One German metal band found its musical inspiration far from its homeland: Ireland. Now it’s traveling even farther to spread its Celtic-infused music in the United States.
German metal band SuidAkrA is scheduled to perform Monday at Screamin’ Willies. The show, one of the first stops on its nationwide American tour, will begin at 7 p.m.
SuidAkrA, originally named Gloryfication, was founded in 1994 by lead guitarist Arkadius Antonik and drummer Stefan Möller. When keyboardist Daniela Voigt, guitarist Marcel Schoenen and bassist Christoph Zacharowski joined the group later in the year, Gloryfication changed its name to SuidAkrA, which is Arkadius spelled backwards.
SuidAkrA has stayed consistent with the sounds for which it is known, according to the band’s website.
“Our sound is very hard to describe because we have a lot of elements,” Antonik said. “We prefer to call it metal with Celtic influences. Celtic metal.”
Throughout its 2012 American tour, SuidAkrA will be highlighting its 10th studio album, “Book of Dowth.” The album’s title can be interpreted as the “Book of Darkness” and deals with the darker side of Celtic mythology and even features a few traditional instruments.
“We’re open-minded to all musical styles and we don’t want to limit ourselves,” Antonik said. “We’re influenced by Celtic mythology and Celtic music, bag pipes and traditional instruments – a piece of everything. It’s death metal but it’s also Irish folk. The melodies are there.”
Missie Tong, freelance photographer out of Columbus, said she enjoys the metal-Celtic combination. “It’s cool anytime you can combine metal with other kinds of music. Metallica and other bands have done it, combined it with classical music. It’s where it all came from.”
While this tour won’t be SuidAkrA’s first visit to the U.S., it will bring it to parts it hasn’t been before.
“Our past tours have mostly been through the western part of America, or in bigger cities like New York,” Antonik said. “The big American cities are very impressive for us Europeans, compared to our German cities, which are a lot smaller.”
Despite only seeing America’s biggest cities on its previous tours, SuidAkrA hasn’t deemed those cities the best its visited. Monday will mark the band’s first Columbus visit, and Antonik said the band is looking forward to the stop.
“It doesn’t matter how big the stage is or how many people are in the audience, we’re happy to get the opportunity,” Antonik said.
Even after 18 years of performing, SuidAkrA keeps going for its fans, and will keep performing for as long as they can, Antonik said.
“We always give 100 percent,” Antonik said. “The main thing is that we want to have fun. We love what we do, so we do it with passion. It’s the main motivation for us. Great fun, cool party, great time.”
Screamin’ Willies is located at 1921 Channingway Center Drive. Tickets will be $17 on the day of the show and VIP Meet ‘n’ Greet tickets will be $55.
“They’re a German band that plays Celtic pagan metal, so that’s interesting right there,” said Jon Freeman of Freeman Promotions LLC. “It’s not your typical heavy metal. It has a story behind it and every album has a theme.”
